SOCHI, Russia - There are Americans divided about President Obama or former President George W. Bush, but then there are the Russians and Joseph Stalin.
There is still that division in Russia, and some feel Stalin was an important leader at a time when Russia needed one.
It's been said he inherited a country with a plow and left it with an atomic bomb.
Others think of the millions he had killed.
Sochi was one of his favorite places to visit, and it's where one of his 18 homes is located.
Historian Anna Khovantseva said the house in Sochi has "its own life." From the house, Stalin built an empire.
"He controlled the country from here," Khovantseva said.
Khovantseva guides tours through the home.
"He periodically came here from 1937 to 1950, excluding, of course, the time of war," Khovantseva said.
That war was World War II when Stalin was commander-in-chief of the Soviet Union.
Today, this home is a private hotel. Visitors can even go into Stalin's private rooms.
"Here we have a small historical corner, because our country doesn't have state-sanctioned Stalin museums," Khovantseva said. "People have very different attitudes towards him. Many consider him a great politician and many a dictator and a killer."
Some of Stalin's personal items are still located in the house, like his desk, bed and famous bullet-proof leather couch.
There is also a reception hall that Khovantseva calls the most beautiful room in the house.
"We now called it the fireplace hall, because it has the beautiful fireplace that's been here since the house was built," she said. "The house was planned for summer vacation, it gets rainy in the summer time, he liked to sit next to it and warm up."
As powerful as he was, though, Khovantseva said Stalin was a very private and shy man.
A pool was built at the home so he didn't have to go to the nearby Black Sea. Workers would bring in buckets of salt water whenever Stalin wanted to take a swim. He felt salt water had healing qualities.
"He got shrapnel injury in 1907, that's why the arm wasn't working very well," Khovantseva said. "Maybe his arm caused him to be uncertain in the water."
It's all a reminder of a man who would lead Russia during some very difficult times.
"It's my opinion but we can call him a genius, but an evil genius," Khovantseva said. "In any case, for that period in our history, maybe we needed that kind of an individual."
Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until he died in 1953. There is no doubt he is one of the most controversial leaders of the 20th century.
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